Israel Active

Israel’s MASSIVit 3D (reported previously) has won a contract to supply Italy’s Biesse Group with 20 to 40 3D printers annually.  The deal is said to be worth $60 - $80 million over 5 years. MASSIVit will also work on combining its technology with Biesse’s computer numerical control system.

Israel’s Gilat Satellite Networks, through its subsidiary Wavestream, has received multi-million-dollar orders from the US Department of Defense (DoD). Wavestream's 50W Ka-band military Block Upconverter (BUC) will power the DoD military communications program.

U.S. chip giant Intel has purchased Jerusalem-based startup Cnvrg.io for a reported price of $60 million. Cnvrg, develops a service for managing, speeding up, and scaling data science workflows, enabling clients to quickly develop, test, deploy, and refine machine learning models.

Retail giant Amazon is recruiting 150 more employees for its research centers and offices in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Herzliya. This will raise its workforce in Israel to 1,300. Amazon’s General Manager said it “will enable us to tap into the amazing technology talent pool here in Israel”.

Financial giant Citi has begun the 10th cohort of Citi Accelerator TLV, its program for Israeli startups in the fintech, cyber, and data space. There have been more than 100 participants of its accelerator since it was launched in 2013. Those startups have since raised more than $1.3 billion of funds.

Israel’s IDI Insurance has partnered Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI) to establish an innovation hub in Israel. “The HUB”, soon be renamed “GDH TLV” will focus on finding and fostering startups that help the direct and digital insurance sector.

A group of 13 Israeli company CEOs have just completed a four-day trip to the UAE organized by Jerusalem Venture Partners. Israeli companies represented included Agrint (pest sensing), , and ,

The increased use of zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic is helping Israelis conduct business with India. Not only are travel costs saved, but Indian companies have adopted digital platforms and it is now quite easy to set up introductory meetings. India accounts for 3.5% of all Israeli trade.

The Israeli government is launching a stimulus program to increase employment in hi-tech and industrial sectors. The program’s initial budget stands at NIS 60 million with the goal of training 3,000 local job seekers. Grants up to NIS 45,000 will be available to eligible employees.

The Israel-Dubai Conference is set to take place in Dubai on Nov 24-26. The joint initiative by Bank Leumi, Reshet 13 and Calcalist aims to encourage business cooperation between the two countries in the fields of finance, technology, industry, agriculture, health, and tourism.